Minister for Health Simon Harris has said the overall rate of transmission of the Covid-19 virus has now stabilised at 0.5 and in some estimates was between 0.3 and 0.8.
The reproductive rate refers to how many other people a confirmed case goes on to infect.
Minister for Health @SimonHarrisTD tells the Dáil the reproductive rate of #coronavirus in Ireland is now considered stable at about 0.5, while admissions to hospitals and ICUs have halved since last week | Live #Covid19 blog: https://t.co/mmH0nkFVYm pic.twitter.com/pTbtuOKmfQ
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 7, 2020
Updating the Dáil, Mr Harris also said the number of admissions to hospital and intensive care units had halved in the past week.
The "data coming through in the modelling is the number of admissions to hospital and intensive care. Both of these have halved in the last week," he said.
Last week hospital admissions were around 40 a day whereas this week that is around 20 a day, the minister added.
He said last week ICU admissions were around 4-6 a day whereas it is around 2 a day this week.
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Mr Harris also said there have been 164 cases of Covid-19 cases in Direct Provision.
He stated that a range of measures were in place to address any case including a provision for self isolation facilities.
The minister said a person confirmed as having the virus or suspected of having it were being moved to dedicated off-site self isolation facilities where supports are available and he said Citywest has been used.
He was responding to Sinn Féin Health Spokesperson Louise O'Reilly who asked how many positive Covid-19 cases are in Direct Provision centres.
Deputy O'Reilly also asked if the minister can ensure that the additional capacity created in places like Citywest can be used by people in Direct Provision.
She asked if the minister could ensure that the process of mixing people who are cocooning with those who are transferred out of Direct Provision because they are suspected cases will stop immediately.
In relation to the number of new cases of Covid-19 in nursing homes, Mr Harris said numbers are beginning to decline. He told the Dáil there are about 50 new cases a day compared to 100 per day previously.
The minister said this was the result of the testing that had been carried out.
Mr Harris has also said he is meeting the Irish Dental Association tomorrow.
Dental services are currently confined under legislation to the delivery of emergency dental services, he explained.
The minister said this legislative provision is among the issues to be reviewed in light of the decisions recently announced by Government.
He said expert advice is being sought through the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) to see how issues around dental services can be resolved and he said he would report back to the House next week.
Referring to the drop off in the number of cancer referrals to hospitals, Fianna Fáil spokesperson for health Stephen Donnelly asked if it was now time to reopen screening programmes.
Raising the fall in the number of cancer referrals, Fianna Fáil TF @DonnellyStephen asks if it is now time to reopen screening programmes | Live #Covid19 blog: https://t.co/mmH0nkFVYm pic.twitter.com/0qcc43q8Ll
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 7, 2020
